CHARLESTON, WV: "New Governor Patrick Morrisey announced a day one blitz of executive orders, including directives to bolster religious exemptions to vaccination mandates and strip down diversity, equity and inclusion policies in government. Another of Morrisey’s executive orders would kickstart reviews meant to establish what he has called a Backyard Brawl to compare West Virginia’s economic and regulatory policies to those of surrounding states. The new governor said this would direct his administration to examine every regulation, workforce rule and licensing rule in comparison to surrounding states.

Terminating any DEI

“We’re expressly sending a letter to all of our cabinet officials and agency heads and indicating there should be a review of any potential DEI that may exist within state government,” he said.

Morrisey announced a review of major spending decisions occurring within the fiscal year, anything over $100,000 from July 1, 2024 to June 30 of this year.“People who know me well know that I believe in efficient, accountable government, and we’re going to go after waste as much as humanly possible,” he said.

'Religious exemptions for vaccines'

Morrisey described this as implementing the “Equal Protection for Religion Act,” which went into law in 2023. That bill stipulated the government would not be able to “substantially burden” someone’s constitutional right to freedom of religion unless doing so “is essential to further a compelling governmental interest.” In this case, Morrisey is saying the concept should apply to mandatory vaccinations.

“We believe that the ‘Equal Protection for Religion Act’ strongly argues in favor of religious and conscientious exemptions,” he said today. “West Virginia right now is an outlier. There are only several states that don’t recognize religious exemptions. Today that changes.”

https://wvmetronews.com/2025/01/14/morrisey-opens-up-with-religious-exemptions-to-vaccines-diversity-policies-gender-definitions/